Macy's CFO Says Price Increases Working Relatively Well

Aug 26, 2011

Macy's Inc. CFO Karen Hoguet told investors during a recent conference call that the company reported a 64 percent increase in second-quarter profit, largely thanks to its decision to pass on some of its higher production costs to its customers.

According to The Associated Press, Hoguet said that the company's best spring season in more than 10 years led the retail chain to elevate its full-year profit outlook. The New York Times reported that Macy's raised its full-year earnings outlook from between $2.25 and $2.30 per share to between $2.40 and $2.45.

The financial boss, who admitted that the overall strength of the economy needs to be continually monitored, said that increasing prices for customers during the back-to-school season has worked relatively well thus far.

"In fashion, obviously, there's less resistance as you would expect in commodity areas, but I think the good news for us is that as we've done some tests and in commodity areas, where we reduce the number of units, we've been relatively good at predicting that elasticity," Hoguet explained.